Samaire Armstrong (The Mentalist) and British actor Sam Hazeldine (The Raven) have been cast in ABC’s drama pilot The Returned, from Brillstein Entertainment, Brad Pitt’s Plan B and ABC Studios. Written by Aaron Zelman and directed by Charles McDougall, the project chronicles how the lives of the people in Arcadia are forever changed when their deceased loved ones return. Armstrong, repped by Leverage and APA, plays Elaine, an attractive and snarky woman with a controlling personality who loses her composure when her father seems to have come back from the dead. Hazeldine, repped by Luber Roklin and UK’s Rights House, will play Abel, a mysterious man coming back from the past. Hazeldine, the son of British actor James Hazeldine, next co-stars in another Plan B project, the George Clooney-starring/directed feature The Monuments Men. This is Hazeldine’s second ABC drama pilot — he was in Scruples last season.
Being Human‘s Lenora Crichlow has joined another ABC pilot, the untitled Cullen Bros. comedy from 20th TV. It centers on Terry Gannon (Maggie Lawson), a recently divorced single mother who temporarily moves in with her estranged father (James Caan), a beer-swilling former baseball player. Brit Crichlow, repped by Schachter Entertainment and UK’s BWH Agency, will play Gigi, a mom whose son tries out for Little League with Terry’s son. There was interest from multiple US pilots in Crichlow who became available after finishing the final season of the British Being Human. Her UK TV credits also include series Sugar Rush and Material Girl and film Doors Open.
